"Howard, slow down... what happened?" I spoke into my iPhone, anger spiking through my veins. I felt a growl form at my throat. I resisted.
I was the Alpha of Lupo Casa pack.. I had to be in control, giving into primal rage was not okay.
"Alpha, the spies you sent were.... they were... were massacred...." Howard, one of my most deadly soldiers was panicking his ass off. I being the Alpha I was, didn't have the time or patience to care how traumatized he was. I had more problems.
At dawn, yesterday I had sent him, leading a group of twelve highly skilled spies into the girl Alpha's territory. Feu pack. And not 48 hours later, they were all dead and gone. I scowled, we really needed to up our game.
But then again, credit given where it should be, that little bitch was good. A worthy opponent even though life would be easy without her.
"Report back to the pack house, Howard. And... like, don't die."
"Alr-..." I cut the call before he could say more. And with one swift movement I swung my arm and smashed my phone against the teak book rack. The books on it shuddered upon impact and I growled as pieces of glass flew towards me, littering my mahogany desk.
Newton's 3rd law; for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. My wolf, Gold, responded eagerly to my anger and I shook my head at him. If he wanted to kill, he would have to wait.
"Kylian, we should seriously consider an alliance." My beta's calm suggestion came over my shoulder, making me scowl in disgust. My wolf too was challenged at the idea of surrender.
Alliance!?! Why would I agree to something that would just bring me down?
"Alliance?! Fuck, that. That little bitch was nothing an year ago. Lupo Casa is twice as large as Feu. Our empire can crush her. I will not submit to some wannabe in a bra!!!" I didn't yell, but my words were laced with pure poison, both my wolf and I were raging.
If there ever was going to be an alliance Feu was gonna have to bend over and beg for it.
The Feu pack and Lupo Casa had never been on good terms. The hot Italians and the dumb French, of course we didn't mix. But three years ago, everything blew to hell.... and lately they were rising and that wasn't good. They deserved to crumble for what they did.
My dark lens covered eyes glared at Craig, piercing through his tan skin, threatening him to suggest anything more. But this was Craig Romano, he didn't even flinch. He knew me through all my moods and he knew the exact gravity of the situation. He knew why I wanted Feu gone, and he also knew that I always got what I wanted. Always.
"Feu will pay. You know that, one way or another."
And then out of the cold blue the sound of a slow applause reached my ears... I flinched towards the far corner of my study. My eyes glared at the shadows as my anger lessened and my senses sharpened. It took me a moment to realise who it was.
"Dad," my voice grew even cold. And then my anger came back, seven fold. My wolf; Gold, churned in me as he focused on the old man in the shadows. We hate him. Always and forever.
I wanted that man before me decapitated and six feet under the ground, I wanted to sink my teeth into his neck and listen to his final exhale of breath. I wanted to kill him slowly... to revel in the feel of his blood... but how could I? I was his kin. What would that make me?
I distinctively nodded to Craig to leave and stood up straighter as my eyes focused on the man I owed my life to. Jesper Garcia, the legendary Italian Alpha that had conquered three packs in one night with the help of his right hand man. He was ruthless and feared.
But in all honestly, I just wish he had worn a condom.
"Boy," the silver haired man walked towards me, his piercing grey eyes judging every corner of the room with indifference.
"That was as almost as good as Lucas." I flinched at his plain statement.
He always had to bring up Lucas.... of course he did. Lucas had been perfect.
My father walked towards me slowly, his gold encased cane at his side. He approached me with a lethally calm smile and his wrinkled, calloused hand went straight to my head, and then it grabbed a fist full of my dark hair.
I had seen his hand coming from a mile away. He was old and slow and weak... but I never fought back. You never fight your family, I knew that now.
" But, boy... Lucas would never, EVER, have taken his anger out on some USELESS phone..." his voice was tainted with venom as he tightened his grip, and with one paced motion, he drew back his other hand and with it he sent a single cold slap smashing against my cheek.
So this was about the phone. Of course it was... he had broken bones for less.
Memories crashed inside my head. De javu. My wolf exhaled in exhaustion and I instantly wanted to turn into my 11 year old self, the boy that cried every time his father kicked him. The impulse to find my mother and weep in her arms consumed me.
But no, not today. Today, I was the Alpha of this pack. Today, I was done, today I glared into my father's cold eyes, hoping silently that he died.
**********
"Kylian. Stop walking!" A nagging voice came through the mind link as a voice rang through the hallway.
"Kylian, Kylian. Wait. Boy, I asked you to wait!!" Luna Greta Garcia, my mother, was attempting to catch me as I swiftly made my way to the car park. This was the ninth time she had called out my name, and even then I ignored her and walked on.
"Kylian, how dare you avoid your own mother." My mother's frail human hands wrapped themselves around my large wrist. I gave out an annoyed growl, as she pulled me to a halt.
One swift shrug and she would be on the ground. But I knew better.
"The fuck do you want?" I looked to her, with a scowl plastered across my face, hoping that it would hide the bruise... I really wasn't in the mood to talk or some shit.
No luck there.
At seeing me her hand immediately went from mine, up to her pale pink lips. Her hazel eyes became sorrowful, welling up with tears. My scowl deepened, I hated burdening her with my petty problems.
"My baby, who did..." her left hand lightly touched the reddened cheek and then wandered to my firm shoulder as a salty tear streaked her rosy cheek.
Emotional women.
"No one, just forget it." I cut her off and shook off her hold and began to walk away, but slower this time, knowing she would follow.
"I'll talk to Jesper." She murmured, and I shook my head. Useless.
"It's fine. Now tell me, what do you want? I have work."
And then just like that, my concerned emotional mother was replaced by the strong Luna that had helped build our empire.
"The Feu pack."
I stopped, looking up from my feet. "What about it?"
"We need an alliance."
I frowned. Why did everyone think that? Did Craig say something dumb?
"No, we don't." I turned to face the Luna. "What makes you think an alliance is gonna help any one?"
"I might be human and all, but I'm not stupid, anyone with two eyes and a head can understand that this rivalry is tearing the land apart. Its not just affecting us. Smaller packs are taking sides in the feud."
"So let them side. We can take them on." I shrugged. It was true.
"We don't want a war, Kylian. Think about the politics, the capital loss, the humans... the lives that would harm."
Ughhh.... I sighed. Lunas and their 'peace is the best thing in the world.' I wanted to slam my head through a brick wall.
"So, listen to me when I say, you WILL set an alliance with Alpha Paris Dumas and the whats-her-name child ruler." The Luna raised a single finger at me and pointed it at my silk clad chest. I felt my wolf groan as yet another parent interfered with my ruling.
'You are a puppet,' He taunted me. But he was right. I had no say in my own kingdom.
I scowled at her, my anger bubbling. "Its like all you people have forgotten who killed Lucas and Sara... I haven't. Feu did. Dumas did. Why can't you remember that?"
Three years ago, about three months after I came of age, my brother, the Alpha of our pack, died at the hands of Paris Dumas, the Alpha of one of the most dominating packs in the west.
Lucas' brunette Luna; Sara, also died that night, by impaling herself with my brother's bloody sword, driven mad by the sight of his mangled body. The mate bond was messy, but that totally wrecked the Garcia name.
And because they didn't have kids. Here I was, the second choice. A manipulated puppet ruler who was now going to form an alliance with his brother's murderer.
Note the sarcasm when I say, yayy!!